This invention relates to devices which hold and carry articles to a dispensing tray in certain types of vending machines, or which convey parts to a work station in certain manufacturing operations.
Prior art devices have most commonly included a continuous belt disposed in a vertical plane. Various shapes of hooks attached along the length of the belt have provided the means by which the articles or parts were carried by the belt. The most common variety of hook has been an L-shaped type, attached at one end to the conveyor loop with the other end directed oppositely to the flow of the conveyor movement. The hook holds the article as it moves along the lower portion of the belt and dispenses the article as it turns about the end of the loop to the upper portion of the belt. The article merely slides off the end of the hook as it turns upward. These types of prior art devices resulted in a loosely held article, the container of which had to have a special perforation/hole/adaption to receive the hook.
Other types of prior art have substituted solid units for hooks, the units being placed snug against each other so that a flap from a package might be held therebetween. While these devices have provided for firmer gripping of the articles to be dispensed, the loading of such articles has been made more difficult and the articles must still be placed in specially adapted packages.
While the prior art devices have been reasonably satisfactory, there remains a need for a reliable, easy to load vending device which can accommodate at the same time articles of a variety of shapes and sizes without the need of mechanical changes.